Tea leaves

My mom recently bought a sushi set (we're not going to use it for sushi) at Teopia for $5 and expressed some interested in getting a tea set (oh joy) from there. She likes decor pieces that are very characteristic of traditional Chinese design elements, and so I decided to snoop on the website that she told me about. Upon exploring, I found pictures of the vast range of tea leaves they sell. When laid out and photographed, they produce a very interesting graphic design:







And when it's not upclose you can't even tell that they're tea leaves:





Interesting...

In other news... I have no other news. Have a lovely Wednesday night/Thursday morning!

Book Review: How to Write It

How to Write It: A Complete Guide to Everything You'll Ever Write by Sandra Lewis is huge book, with huge help. In my opinion, the most effective how-to book is one with plenty of examples. I don't like taking directions and reading numbered lists (which might mean I don't follow cooking/baking recipes well, eek!). I like to see and copy (and alter as required). It's just like the way I learned HTML and CSS and basic web design. I ripped off someone else's code, studied it myself and adjusted figures to see what they did. I learned by doing than simply reading.

This isn't really a book review, I confess.

This summer I've been trying to REALLY understand the quotation by Bruce Lee (though the Internet says otherwise) on the Bruce Lee poster in my room:



Reading How to Write It demonstrated the first part of the quotation. When you read a book that tells you a bunch of facts and directions and no example of what the end product could look like, it really frustrates a person. At least, I, learn better when I am shown an example to work with.

The second part of the quotation is "Willing is not enough, we must do." That's another piece of advice I could not wrap my mind around and practice. This spoke volumes about making goals. What we don't realize is that while setting goals comes with good intentions (much like making New Year's Resolutions), actual action almost never takes place. We could plan, but plans can sometimes fall apart. Or some things just don't work no matter how carefully you plan.

I looked in my paper diary and analyzed the things I wrote inside. Some were so ridiculous. For example:

May 1, 2008

• Get G1. (Yes, I still don't have my G1.)
  
• Get a jorb.
  
• Create my online portfolio so that I don't need to get a jorb. I make my jorbs.
  
• Take more pictures to add to portfolio.
  
• Read a book a week.
  

I didn't accomplish any of them, or at least, none of them at a satisfactory level. I realized it's no use saying "I will do this. I will do that." Don't say it at all. DO THEM! You should be able to say "I did this. I did that." and be proud of your accomplishments.

That, is what I take from the Bruce Lee poster. After 2 years of pursuit, I only wholeheartedly understand it now.

Tea cups

If I were a teacher, and a teacher who was likable enough to receive gifts from their students, I would probably be the least disgruntled and most appreciative teacher to receive coffee mugs or tea cups as gifts. I was randomly browsing through About.com (my new Wikipedia/timewaster for things unrelated to definitions and events) and found some articles about the types of gifts to give to teachers (one | two).

"Forget the coffee mug!"

WHAT?! NO! Give ME the coffee mug! I loved giving my teachers coffee mugs with a 3-piece pack of Ferrero Rocher, a small pack of hot chocolate powder, and a very cute stirring spoon. It was mainly my mom's idea (and my mom's effort, money, time, energy to wrap, thought, etc. etc.) but I liked the idea too and enjoyed being "involved." But reading everywhere, teachers hate getting coffee mugs. After the first one, it gets tiring and unthoughtful. I don't think I could ever get tired of coffee mugs. I drink tea and coffee everyday (not so much coffee now, since school is out and I ought to keep myself as drug-free as possible). I hate using the plain white mugs every single time I have tea.

I'd like to close my eyes, wave my hand over the rows of different mugs and ask myself, "which one will it be this time?" I can't exactly do that with the mugs I have in my cupboard now. My parents would think I'm senile because they're all the same O_o Another thing about plain white mugs is that my parents and brother drink tea also, and sometimes all at the same time...making a germ game out of differentiating whose cup is whose.

The only thing I don't like is tea sets. The kind with a set of 4 cups, 4 dessert plates, 4 stirring spoons, a tea pot, and a serving tray. I never have tea parties (and don't tell me it's about time I should) and having multiples of the same cup is reproducing my current issue. And I don't like tea cups or mugs with tiny handles (like the ones pictured above; I just chose the picture because it was 'pretty') because I end up burning my fingers when it rubs against the mug, conductive of the hot tea. And I don't like cups that don't hold a lot of tea. I don't like spending more time refilling the cup and less time enjoying it. Tea goes cold pretty fast, you know!

This is why I cannot attend or host tea parties. I'm self-absorbed when I drink tea. It's a solitary pastime that can ruin my day if the tea bag isn't fresh, or if water isn't hot enough, or the cup is too cumbersome to hold. Nevertheless, it is comforting experience that can only be made perfect by myself. If you want something done right, you do it yourself.

F&V update: End of Week 1

So, this week was my first week to try 2 new vegetables and 2 new fruits...neither happened. Well, sort of. I tried papaya...didn't like the taste but the texture was nice. It was like a thicker gelatin but the flavour was not... favourable. So, 1 new fruit. That's all =(

Today was a beautiful sunny day, so my brother and I walked to the library to pick up more books (I am almost a regular now, haha) and bought a Mother's Day cake. Even though I despise how commercialized and forceful Mother's/Father's Day is, I feel like it's somewhat necessary. If you present your mother with a cake without an occasion, your mother would think you want something or trying to work your way up to tell her some devastating, haha. In any case, it's a good excuse to eat cake.

I borrowed:


Portrait Photography by Michael Freeman



AND

Book Design by Andrew Haslam.



There is actually a study/science to the placement of text and images on the pages of books, textbooks, pamphlets, etc. that has pleasing-to-the-eye results. I'm always extra attentive to the spacing and layout of books, and figuring out how a layout could be improved to make it more fun or easier to read. Have you ever read a novel that sucked the life out of you, but you read other novels which had nice paper, nice fonts, nice line spacing and an overall enjoyable reading experience? Sometimes it has nothing to do with the actual content of the book, but the LAYOUT!

Friday Stir

I have a lot to say. Let me start with some pictures.

Realization No. 1: The pictures above were very difficult to shoot because:

1) I am the "photographer" in charge of the settings to ensure the picture is developed correctly.
2) I am the "model" in charge of being a expressive subject.
3) I am the "director" in charge of the expression of myself PLUS the expression of my counterpart.
4) I am shooting outdoors in natural light, making the checking of images on the tiny 1.8" LCD screen extremely cumbersome. I would love to have a literal "dark room" because we all know that LCD screens don't work well with tons of light shining on it.

- - - - - - - -

Before this, I visited my former high school's art show. I talked to my TA, my media arts teacher, and that seemed to be all on my list of former teachers to talk to. Somehow I excluded the idea of talking to my math and business teachers, probably because I knew I did not have a strong or warm relationship with any of them. I just had nothing good to talk to them about. It said something. And it said it loud and clear.

Realization No. 2: The teachers I remained on good terms with were the ones who were the most vivacious and uplifting with their advice. The way they carried themselves provided me with a sort of role model. Never did I catch them at a time when they appeared to hate their job. I felt the exact opposite about my math and business teachers. They failed to instill excitement in me, or to help me love math and business. No, no, instead they were unpleasant, sarcastic, and constantly tired...tired of their jobs, miserable about their lives, but too chicken to quit and find something more invigorating. They were stuck and sad. How was I supposed to take away with me something good from people like them? But I ignored it...

I was never good at hide and seek.



Because I was hiding from myself.




Everyone close me, except myself, could see it. They could see how I was trying to fool myself, but they never wanted to say it out loud. I had to come to it on my own terms. But if it weren't for seeing my [loved] teachers today and taking away with me some very inspiring words, I would've stagnated and remained with the idea that "business isn't all that bad." It isn't, and it's part of our world no matter what, but there is always a better alternative. And I'm glad I found it. Today was a good day.

Book Review: Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads

From now on, I won't go into too much detail about the contents of the book like I did with my other reviews, because if you wanted to, you could just read it yourself. I'm just going to write what I thought of it.

Summary: Smart Moves by Curran and Greenwald is a guide for undergraduates who don't have the most obvious career path (those who majored in social sciences and humanities) but the most choices. Still, the abundance of choices and opportunities are hard to identify and this book's aim is to help you find them.

Opinion: The impression I got from this book was that going to university/college without a clear goal was useless, but that having any degree is important to have anyway because it was a symbol of maturity and consistency. But that's where it ends. "Your major/program does not equal your career." It emphasized that you can only add value to your degree if demonstrate skills and capabilities that were never taught in the classroom and that you have to find out on your own. Reading all this made me think, if the only way I can be marketable and "in demand" is by preparing myself with skills and capabilities that ARE NOT taught in the classroom, why am I paying so much to go class??

The truth is, post-secondary was never meant for job preparation. Post-secondary school was meant for higher learning and for philosophers who didn't care about getting job. Post-secondary school was for people who wanted to sit around and think and discuss abstract crap about life and intangible concepts and theories! That's what was its original purpose! Along the way, someone thought, "hey, I can make this 'thinking institute' into a business and fool them into thinking that they can get jobs out of attending this place!." It may sound like just cynicism, but it's the truth. IT IS!

These books (that teach you how to excel in/make the most of university/college) emphasize on building skills OUTSIDE the classroom...almost to the point that 10% of what you learn in class will be applicable. So why even bother going to school and paying all that money when you're only going to use 10% of it?? Why not just invest 100% of yourself in non-school activities that build experience and skills? Because the world doesn't "work that way." The world is illogical and Fascist underneath this idea that we all have free will. To "win" in this illogical and Fascist world, you need to also be illogical and Fascist and do what everyone else believes is the "right" thing to do, and blow off $20,000, and work on "getting experience" and "building skills" on the side with which your $20,000 had no relation.

Getting experience & building skills not taught in school = $0
University education = $20,000 (or more, if you fail courses and/or live on residence)

However, to "get anywhere" you need to say you're a university student to show you're not "stupid" and that you're "just like everyone else: normal and a 'stable member of society'." So there's no way around it! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.


Reading makes me mad.

Book Review: How To Get Any Job With Any Major

I've been filling my summer with books, particularly the ones about career development/exploration. I know there that there is no one set recipe for succeeding or doing well after high school, but it sure would be nice to know what people think of as recipes of success and whether I can see myself implement some of their advice. Right now, I'm going through this journey blindly like many others my age. It's pure curiosity, and I'm sure my bringing up these books in review form will tap into yours.

Donald Asher's How to Get Any Job with Any Major contains three parts.

The first part covers the general topics such as defining career development from getting a job, exploring what you might truly enjoy doing, and several alternatives to working such as volunteering, teaching English, the military, Peace Corps, etc. It's meant for people who have already graduated from high school, university, or need time to explore what else is out there. I don't think this section should have been 100 pages. It was stuffed with aptitude-like quizzes, introspection and emotional reassurance of "you can fix a bad career anytime." It's not unnecessary, but I just don't think it required a third of the book.

The second part is devoted to those who are currently in post-secondary school and advising how to make the best out of those years. Asher emphasizes internships, job shadowing, networking, and volunteering as sources of exploring whether what you wanted to do was really what you thought it was. For example, interning at a kitchen to find out you can't work under pressure as a chef or to find that you are stronger as a manager. He also throws in the pros and cons of more education (advanced degrees and graduate studies) and the high-risk entrepreneurial option. I thought the way he introduced volunteering and internship was convincing. I used to hear about it all the time, but vaguely and as surface advice. Here he actually goes in a little more depth about how to identify good internships from bad ones. I thought it was nice that these ideas were presented, because before this I thought there was no way you could know what a career was really like unless you were a high-achiever and got into a co-op program, or until after you've graduated and got an entry-level job. I really thought that it was the only way and I was doomed! This section gave me hope that there are ways and strategies to find out what is out there.

The third part is about job hunting and troubleshooting the job search. I found these sections really ordinary, meaning, I've seen these before in many other job hunting books. Don't be late for an interview. If you really want a job, you'll devote all your waking hours to finding one. Send thank you notes. Don't try to be funny. Use "the 36-hour rule" to follow up. What is this, dating? This advice is so obvious and condescending and he blames failures on our own laziness and lack of effort. The person writing this book already has a job and doesn't actively search for jobs. He doesn't know what he's talking about, really.

As a whole, it was not a good book. I was getting snobbish overtones from this author, even though, yeah, we need ass-kicking for something like this. He also sprinkles in a lot of "case studies" or supposedly real-life experiences of people with successful happy endings to give readers some hope that "it could happen to you too!" The book as a resource to help find a job is terrible. Too many "do this, don't do that." The presenting of ideas to explore careers is great, and encourages readers to not be picky but still be selective so that we obtain some transferable skills. Still, I think I would've just ripped out part 1 and 3 and kept part 2 to pass onto someone. So, I give this book a 33.333%. For obvious reasons.

I'd also like to note: don't buy these books. These types of books are not things you'd go back every so often to reference. You're only going to be a fresh graduate once or twice in your life time. Secondly, the advice can become very dated. Just borrow them from the library. Your tax dollars go into funding it! Use it!

YESSSSSS!

FOREVER 21 (Canada) HAS THE HEART SUNGLASSES YESSSS

I think someone from Forever 21 is reading my blog and heard my rant just a couple days ago...hehe.